Doom Patrol #3
Doom Patrol (vol. 2) #3 is the first appearance of Rhea Jones, the electromagnetically powered teenager who joins the team as Lodestone — a character whose strange metamorphic arc would carry through both the Kupperberg and Grant Morrison eras and eventually reach live-action adaptation in DC's Doom Patrol television series. The issue also serves as the conclusion of the opening Kalki story arc that launched the entire 1987 relaunch, resolving three issues of plot momentum and definitively establishing Kupperberg's post-Crisis team lineup. As the third chapter of a series that would hand the baton to Grant Morrison at issue #19 and become one of DC's most celebrated creative runs of the late 1980s, this issue marks the moment the revived Patrol's founding roster — including old-guard members Larry Trainor and Valentina Vostok alongside newer faces — was finally assembled and set in motion.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The 1987 Doom Patrol relaunch grew out of writer Paul Kupperberg's long personal investment in the property, which he had shepherded through guest appearances across a decade before DC greenlit an ongoing series. Kupperberg laid narrative groundwork in Secret Origins Annual #1 (1987), also illustrated by John Byrne, before launching the monthly book with artist Steve Lightle and inker Gary Martin. Lightle joined the assignment reluctantly — he had already been unimpressed by Kupperberg's earlier Showcase-era take on the team — and creative friction over his exclusion from the plotting process led him to exit after issue #5, at which point Erik Larsen stepped in. Issue #3, with a cover date of December 1987 and a publication date of September 23, 1987, falls squarely in Lightle's brief but visually distinctive tenure on the book.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Rhea Jones (Lodestone), the magnetically powered new recruit, created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Lightle; she would go on to appear in Grant Morrison's run and be adapted for the 2019 DC Doom Patrol television series.
- Story title: 'The Fire of the Gods!' — the third and concluding chapter of the Kalki arc that opened the 1987 series.
- Kalki (Ashok Desai) dies in this issue, ending his role as the opening antagonist of the relaunched series; his scheme involved trapping Negative Woman's energy self inside an orbiting satellite and weaponizing it.
- Full creative team: script by Paul Kupperberg; pencils and cover by Steve Lightle; inks by Gary Martin; colors by Carl Gafford; letters by John Workman; edited by Mike Gold.
- Cover date: December 1987; on-sale date recorded as September 23, 1987 (the series launched in October 1987 per contemporary trade references).
- The issue features appearances by the full ensemble catalogued for this entry: Celsius (Arani Caulder), Robotman (Cliff Steele), Tempest (Joshua Clay), Negative Man (Larry Trainor), Negative Woman (Valentina Vostok), and supporting characters Harry Stein and Dr. Niles Caulder, with Rhea Jones making her debut.
- The complete Kupperberg run (issues #1–18, including this issue) was reprinted for the first time in Doom Patrol: The Bronze Age Omnibus (DC, 2019), an oversize hardcover that also collects the team's scattered Bronze Age guest appearances.
- Steve Lightle departed the series after issue #5 due to editorial disputes over creative involvement; this issue is therefore among the final handful drawn by the series' launch artist.
Cast · 12 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Doom Patrol: The Bronze Age Omnibus #[nn] (2020)
Key issues in Doom Patrol
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